Rex Laird, county Farm Bureau CEO

A man considered by many to be one of Ventura County agriculture's most effective advocates and consensus builders will retire next year, the Ventura County Farm Bureau announced Thursday.

Rex Laird, the organization's chief executive officer since 1980, plans to leave June 15, Farm Bureau President Scott Deardorff said. Laird's retirement will force the 1,700-member organization to seek a new leader for only the second time in 50 years.

Laird, who regularly spoke on behalf of agriculture to the Ventura County Board of Supervisors and other government policymakers, told the Farm Bureau's 13 directors of his plans this summer. Board members have been discussing how they will recruit his replacement and qualities they want in candidates, said Deardorff, who was elected president Wednesday.

The board hopes to find a new CEO by January so Laird and his replacement will have time for a smooth transition.

A Ventura resident who turns 64 on Christmas, Laird said he has been contemplating retirement for several years. He and his wife, Susan, want more time to ride their three horses, travel and play with their five grandchildren. "You only get X number of years to do that," Laird said. "Most of the things we like to do are outside, and you have to be ambulatory. I want to have time to do that."

Ventura County growers, who grossed $1.5 billion last year, produce some 200 crops on about 95,000 irrigated acres.

Considered by many to be local farming's most articulate advocate, Laird played a leadership role in keeping agriculture viable in a county where the population ballooned from about 400,000 to more than 840,000 in his tenure.

Supervisor Kathy Long, who represents some of the county's most productive farming areas, including the Oxnard Plain and Santa Clara and Ojai valleys, said she was surprised when she heard that he is retiring.

She credited him with doing a good job of getting the public engaged in what agriculture means to the community and helping city residents understand how the industry can coexist with developed areas.

Others agreed.

"The man is a mainstay really to agriculture in this area," said Susan Johnson, the county's chief deputy agricultural commissioner. "He's familiar with government; he knows how it works. He's easy to work with and he's straight-forward. He'll drive 200 miles to talk to a board if he thinks it's important. He's tireless."

When overpumping by farmers caused seawater to invade aquifers under the Oxnard Plain in the early 1980s, crops were imperiled and state officials threatened draconian rationing measures, County Supervisor John Flynn recalled.

Laird and others worked eight years to raise $35 million to build a dam in the Santa Clara River that has diverted more than 2 million feet of runoff water into the ground since its 1991 completion, boosting local supplies and pushing saltwater back out to sea, he said. One acre-foot, about 325,000 gallons, will supply two county families for a year.

Flynn called Laird one of the most effective communicators he's encountered in his 31 years on the board.

"I think Rex has been an outstanding advocate for agriculture, but also an advocate for what is best in the community," he said. "Agriculture a long time ago simply wasn't making its case before the public, but Rex helped them do that. He helped the public to understand the problems that farmers have, that they were not simple problems with simple solutions."

Ventura citrus and avocado grower J. "Link" Leavens cited Laird's leadership in getting water quality regulators to come up with equitable rules to control the pesticide and fertilizers in farms' runoff water, and with establishing the Ventura County Ag Futures Alliance that today has agriculture and nonfarming interests working together to keep agriculture viable amid ongoing urban growth.

"None of us is irreplaceable," Leavens said, "but Rex has provided an extremely calm, resolute presence. Issue after issue after issue, the guy's been there with a steady hand, and we're all very grateful for it."

A Ventura resident since 1975, Laird grew up in El Centro and earned a bachelor's degree in animal science and agriculture business management from California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, in 1968.

Before joining the Farm Bureau, he spent eight years as a real property agent for the Ventura County Public Works Agency, specializing in property management and real estate appraisal. He has also served on the Ventura Chamber of Commerce's board and is a former president of the Ventura County Sheriff's Posse, and the Association of Water Agencies of Ventura County.

Deardorff said his 93-year-old organization will look for someone with many of Laird's qualities.

"Rex is a good listener," he said. "I don't think you can be a good communicator unless you're a good listener. We're looking for someone who will listen and get a pulse of what is going on in the county so that we're not behind, but staying in step with all the stakeholders."

Noting that Ventura County is where Sunkist Growers Inc., Limoneira Co. and other well-regarded farming companies were founded, Laird said he thoroughly enjoyed being an advocate for agriculture.

"I think the thing that really energized me was the opportunity to engage in issues and to work to try to make things happen in a positive light," he said. "What I will miss are some of the people who I did that with. There are a lot of good people there. It's been enjoyable to work with them and make something happen that's positive and meet their needs and at the same time meet the needs of the ag industry."